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[ Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2005 ]

Borough clarifies renting policy for IFC
The “10-point system,” a new addition to the “rental housing permit suspension process,” assigns a certain point-value to violations

Collegian Staff Writer

A representative from the State College borough clarified the new addition to the renting suspension policy implemented by the borough earlier this year at the Interfraternity Council's (IFC) meeting Monday night.

The policy, called the "rental housing permit suspension process," was implemented in 1996 and holds landowners responsible for the criminal behavior of their tenants.

Landowners can receive one to three points per offense, based on its severity. The addition of the point system is meant to identify patterns of misbehavior.

To clarify the borough's new "10-point policy" and discuss the IFC's role in the process, State College Health Department Director Mark Henry spoke to fraternity representatives during the meeting.

Violations
1 point: Sidewalk obstruction, grass, weeds
2 points:
Disorderly conduct, simple assault, harassment
3 points: Aggravated assault, simple assault, furnishing alcohol to minors

The suspension policy has been in effect since 1996, but in November, the borough added a point system to go along with the original process.

"It means that certain violations, such as police and property, carry point value," Henry said.

"If renters accumulate [points], they can risk losing their rental permit," he added.

He said if the tenant gets five points, a letter would be sent to notify them. At 10 points, the suspension process begins, including hearings or discussion with borough members.

If those measures do not stop the renter from further failure to adhere to the borough's policies, the permit could then be suspended for a maximum of six months.

IFC President Brian Bertges said the IFC occasionally has presentations from different areas of the policy if there seems to be a need for clarification of a subject.

Henry's presentation was an information session for those who were unclear about details of the "10-point policy."

"I had a meeting with [State College Police Chief] Thomas King, to see if we could get any [fraternity] violations sent directly to the IFC to keep track of status," Bertges said.

Bertges said that after a house receives five points, the IFC will step in to try and educate the house and make sure it does not fall into the 10-point area.

"A lot of what we're trying to do now, as IFC, is giving extra training in any areas houses are lacking," Bertges added.

Bertges said the IFC would help fraternities in any and all areas it can, including groundskeeping, help with recruitment and/or additional measures to save houses from the 10-point violation.

Jared Brown, assistant director of fraternity and sorority life, said violations are public record and will be posted on the borough's Web site.

This allows anyone with violations to see where they stand and how many points they have.

At the meeting, another presentation was made regarding the implication of the Panhellenic Council (PHC) special event code of conduct.

Mike Funk, IFC associate vice president, said the code of conduct has already been put into place by the PHC and will be voted on at the next IFC meeting.

The code was created in order to make sure that things are done appropriately during IFC/Panhellenic events, such as "askings" and Greek Week, he said.

"It is nothing new," Funk said. "[It is] rules and guidelines that are already in place, but we want to put them through IFC in order to show our support."

Bertges said fraternity members who were present at the President's Council meeting reacted well to the pamphlet of guidelines handed out by Funk.

"[Members of President's Council] took it fairly well; they responded with a lot of questions and were very interested in abiding by it," he said.

The council also discussed selling raffle tickets that would benefit the Make-a-Wish Foundation. However, the permit has not been fully filled out yet, Bertges said.

Rich Burke, IFC head of philanthropic affairs, said the raffle should start within the next two weeks and run through the remainder of the semester.

The 50/50 raffle is open to the entire Penn State campus, and members of the IFC will be handing out the raffle tickets.

"At the end of the semester a ticket will be drawn; half the money will go to the winner, and the other half will go to Make-a-Wish," Burke said.

He added that he picked the Make-a-Wish Foundation as the charity because about 76 percent of the profits go to terminally ill children between 6 and 18 years old.

 



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